From bigxc@prairienet.orgMon Jul 24 05:37:42 1995
Date: Sun, 23 Jul 95 18:17:56 CDT
From: Brian Redman 
To: Multiple recipients of list 
Subject: Vince: We Hardly Knew Ye (part 12)


Vince: We Hardly Knew Ye
Part 12

Being a recap of the death, and various ongoing investigations
into same, of White House aide Vincent Foster, jr.

(With apologies to his family, who prefer to "let sleeping
Fosters lie.")

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With the U.S. about to invade Bosnia in order to promote peace
("War is peace"); with things getting a little hot in Washington
(and not just the weather) for that big, lovable clown from
Arkansas; with investigations heating up; with the "special
people" beginning to panic -- how convenient for the comfortable
classes that the situation in Bosnia should heat up just about
now.

So that the commissar class doesn't get *too* comfortable, I
thought I'd offer a bit of a history lesson on the death, as well
as the on-and-off investigations into same, of Vincent Foster, jr.

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MAY 4, 1994
===========

         WASHINGTON (Reuter) - Whitewater special counsel Robert
Fiske has concluded that White House aide Vincent Foster killed
himself and soon will issue a report wrapping up that part of
his investigation, officials familiar with the inquiry said
Wednesday.
         They said Fiske has told associates his report accepting the
official police version that Foster committed suicide last year
because he was depressed may be released by the middle of May.
         Fiske initially planned to issue his report on Foster's
death by the end of April, but the officials said it would take
slightly longer than expected to complete it.
         A spokeswoman for Fiske said the Foster report would be made
public, but did not know when. She said Fiske would have no
comment before the release of the report.
         The U.S. Park Police concluded that Foster, a White House
deputy counsel and longtime friend of Bill and Hillary Rodham
Clinton, committed suicide when he shot himself July 20 in a
park outside Washington.
         News media reports quoted paramedics who found Foster's body
as questioning whether he killed himself. The White House
earlier this year denied rumors that Foster may have been
murdered and his body moved after his death.
         It was disclosed last year that documents related to the
Whitewater Development Corporation, a failed Arkansas real
estate venture that included the Clintons as partners, had been
removed from Foster's office after his suicide.
         The documents have been subpoenaed by the Justice Department
and eventually were turned over to Fiske.
         One official said Foster, the personal lawyer for the
Clintons, had the documents in his office because he was helping
fill out required government financial disclosure forms.
         It was not known whether Fiske's report would deal with
allegations that former White House counsel Bernard Nussbaum may
have impeded the park police's investigation by refusing to give
them the Whitewater documents.
         Fiske appears to be moving quickly to wrap up the Washington
phase of his investigation, which would clear the way for
congressional hearings.
         Besides Foster's death, his Washington investigation
involves whether any White House and Treasury Department
contacts improperly interfered with a government probe into the
failed Madison Guaranty savings bank linked to the affair.
         All of the 12 current or former White House and Treasury
Department officials who received a subpoena have gone before a
federal grand jury for questioning about the contacts.
         The officials said Fiske has no plans to reconvene the grand
jury.
         But they predicted that Fiske's investigation in Arkansas
could be lengthy, lasting as long as two years.
         He is looking into the land deals and whether any of
Madison's funds had been improperly diverted to Whitewater or to
the 1984 re-election campaign for then-Governor Clinton.
-------------------------------

        WASHINGTON (AP) -- Whitewater prosecutors have concluded White
House deputy counsel Vince Foster's death last summer was a
suicide, an individual familiar with the investigation said
Wednesday.
        ``They have conveyed to us that this is what they expect to put
out on the suicide question,'' the source said, adding the
conclusion was ``made on the basis of forensics evidence.''
        The individual spoke only on condition of anonymity.
        Special prosecutor Robert Fiske issued a carefully worded
statement Wednesday, saying only that he will issue a report on
Foster's death ``as soon as we can consistent with doing the job
properly.''
        Fiske said the review was ``thorough and complete'' and has
involved numerous interviews, extensive forensic analyses and
laboratory work which ``will be an important part of the final
report.'' He gave no timetable for release of the report.
        Foster was found shot to death at a suburban Washington park
last July 20. U.S. Park Police ruled the death a suicide.
        But speculative news stories raising questions about that
conclusion led Fiske recently to hire pathologists to re-examine
the evidence as part of his sweeping inquiry into the Clintons'
business dealings in Arkansas.
        Among the things Foster had been working on when he died were
matters associated with Whitewater, an unsuccessful Arkansas land
deal in which the Clintons were co-owners with James McDougal, the
owner of a failed savings and loan now under investigation.
        Fiske, whose investigation is based in Little Rock, Ark.,
assigned the Foster review to his Washington office headed by
Roderick C. Lankler, an experienced New York homicide prosecutor.
        Fiske's report is also expected to address the conduct of White
House officials in the days immediately after Foster's suicide.
Whitewater documents were found in Foster's White House office
after his death, but White House counsel Bernard Nussbaum refused
to let investigators see them last July. Later, they were turned
over to investigators.
        A torn-up handwritten note by Foster was belatedly found in his
briefcase several days after Nussbaum searched it. Some 30 hours
passed before it was turned over to investigators, and the FBI
concluded that time was spent checking with Foster's widow and with
Clinton to resolve privacy and executive privilege questions.
        Fiske also announced Wednesday that he was hiring two more
lawyers, increasing the size of his staff to 11. They are:
        --James E. Reeves, a partner in a Missouri law firm, who will
prosecute Little Rock businessmen Charles Matthews and Eugene
Fitzhugh, who are accused of conspiring to defraud the Small
Business Administration. They are scheduled to go on trial in June.
        --Gabrielle R. Wolohojian, an attorney at the Boston law firm of
Hale & Dorr since 1991.
        The White House on Wednesday was concerned about another
delicate matter -- a lawsuit threatened by former Arkansas state
employee Paula Jones, who has said then-Governor Clinton made an
improper sexual advance to her in 1991.
        Jones was to file suit Thursday in Little Rock, accusing Clinton
of causing her ``severe emotional distress'' and violating her
civil rights, according to her attorney, Daniel Traylor.
        Jones told reporters in February -- at a news conference
connected to the annual meeting of the Conservative Political
Action Committee -- that she spurned an unwanted advance from
Clinton on May 8, 1991.
        Traylor said he would be seeking an apology from Clinton and
``some type of damages.''
        Clinton's new attorney, Robert Bennett, said the incident never
occurred and told The Associated Press that Jones' attorney sought
a job for her in exchange for her silence, but Clinton rejected the
idea.
        Traylor did not return calls Wednesday to his office.
        The Washington Post reported Wednesday that two of Jones' family
members and two friends said she had told them about the incident
with Clinton on the day it allegedly occurred. The Post said Jones
repeated her story in a series of interviews over the past several
months.
        ``This event plain and simple didn't happen,'' Bennett told the
Post. ``I believe this is really just another effort to rewrite the
results of the election and ... distract the president from his
agenda. I think this lady is being used.''
-------------------------------


 Brian Francis Redman    bigxc@prairienet.org    "The Big C"
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    Coming to you from Illinois -- "The Land of Skolnick"
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